Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami

[9.0] "Tremendous match. Veteran champion vs. dominant challenger - the dynamic works perfectly with Hashimoto dominating Fujinami. Fujinami tries to stay as defensive as possible, but Hashimoto targets and crushes his knees. The wear on Fujinami's knees forces him to fight more on the ground, which helps him stay somewhat away from Hashimoto's deadly kicks. Fujinami eventually catches Hashimoto at the most unexpected moment by taking advantage of his confidence. ****1/4"

[7.0] "Solid-to-pretty good title bout here. Fujinami is in fantastic shape considering he was 44 at the time of this bout, I thought he did a rather poor job of selling Hashimoto's leg work, however I thought his work on Hashimoto's leg and his work during his comeback in the closing stretch was very good. Hashimoto delivered a lot of punishment to Fujinami's leg in the early portions of the match, and brought a viciousness and intensity that contrasted nicely with Fujinami's more poised veteran demeanor. As the match progressed I thought he did a great job selling his own leg as Fujinami mounted his comeback and selling of the chokes toward the end were also very well done. 3.25*"

[6.0] "Pretty good match. I don't know why meltzer rated it so low but it's not that important. The match mostly consited of hashimoto dominating fujinami. Later, the match stopped being so one-sided when fujinami hit his signature dragon screw. I expected something a bit better and I know they were capable of that so I'm slightly disappointed. *** 1/2"

[10.0] "Maybe one of WON's biggest misses I've ever seen regarding ratings. Fujinami puts on a great selling performance and Hashimoto looks like an absolute monster."

[8.0] "This was great! Maybe Fujinami could have sold the leg a bit longer but he made Hashimoto look like the killer he was and just barely survived the onslaught. ****"

[9.0] "Even though this match lacks a little bit of 'uncontrollable' energy to it, which really makes a lot of Hashimoto matches feel unique to me, this is a great example of a clash of magnetic personalities: Hashimoto's fierceness and stubbornness vs. Fujinami's poise and experience, old-school style. Very simple, yet very effective leg work by Hashimoto set the stage for the rest of the match - he had Fujinami on the ropes, but Fujinami found a way to make a small comeback which made it feel like anything can happen. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Hashimoto is so brutal in this, first in the way he picks apart Fujinami's leg in the opening ten minutes, and then after Fujinami's first attempt at firing up, pissing off Hashimoto who abandons his strategy of attacking the leg in favour of just smashing FUjinami with some brutal kicks. This would backfire on him, however, as Fujinami was able to gain an advantage considerably more often after the strategy switch, and once Fujinami hits the Dragon Screw (a move they had been teasing as a big deal throughout), the match immediately becomes a more equal affair, making for a fantastic finish run. (****1/2)"

[10.0] "Not just the most underrated IWGP title match but possibly the genuine best ever. Fujinami's grappling is tighter than ever but Hashimoto is fiercer than ever, which should seem impossible. Things that they've done hundreds of not thousands of times before look better than ever here, especially that Fujinami knee drop."